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Director

Ivan Shurkhovetsky, Dzhanik Fayziev

Release Date(s)

2017 (June 19, 2018)

Studio(s)

Central Partnership (Well Go USA)

Film/Program Grade: B

Video Grade: A+

Audio Grade: A

Extras Grade: F

Review

Historical films, whether they’re accurate or not, can usually be intriguing, but it’s also interesting to see a director’s vision when it comes to world history in cinema. Such is the case with Furious (aka Legenda o Kolovrate), which is based upon “The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan” from the 13th century. It focuses on the young soldier Evpaty Kolovrat (Ilya Malakov), who seeks revenge against a Mongol army led by the evil Batu Khan (Aleksandr Choi), who annihilated the village of Ryazan and killed his Evpaty’s family. With his small group of soldiers, the vengeful Evpaty stands in the way of Batu Kahn’s plans of world domination and against his Mongol army, ultimately in a battle to the death.

Director Ivan Shurkhovetskiy’s debut film features excellent cinematography from Maksim Osadchy-Korytkovsky, as well as a good musical score by Serj Tankian. The film’s star, Ilya Malakov, and the supporting cast, which consists of Polina Chernyshova, Aleksei Serebryakov, Aleksandr Ilyin Jr., and Yulia Khlynina, all hand in fine performances. Unfortunately, the characters themselves look more 2018 than 1237, not to mention that some of the comedic moments seem out of place. However, Furious is bound to remind many viewers of previous, somewhat similar movies like 300 and Excalibur. Overall, it’s a well-produced epic.

Furious is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA. Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.38:1, the picture quality is nothing short of spectacular. The outdoor scenes in daylight, particularly the winter skies, look outstanding while backgrounds, such as trees and snow-covered hills, are highly-detailed. The outfits worn by the characters are stunning while indoor settings look marvelous with robust colors and deep, rich textures. Skin tones also look accurate with great detail on characters’ faces during close-ups. There are also 4 audio options for the film, which are Russian and English 5.1 DTS-HD or 2.0 Dolby Digital. While they all sound great and lack drop-outs or distracting noise issues, the 5.1 track isn’t quite as aggressive or as powerful as the 2.0 option, which is off the charts with rich, crisp sound effects. It’s also much more potent during battles. Forced English subtitles are included on both Russian audio tracks while optional English SDH subtitles are available for the English audio tracks. Extras are more or less nil, but do include three trailers. The first trailer is in Russian with forced English subtitles while the other two are in English without subtitles. A DVD copy is included in the package as well.

Furious is a solid piece of entertainment that should be appealing to those who enjoy good historical fantasy films, particularly Russian film aficionados. The Blu-ray release from Well Go USA makes for a great viewing experience and the lack of extras should not deter anyone from picking it up.

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